Non-volatile memory devices are currently in widespread use in electronic components that require the retention of information when electrical power is terminated. Non-volatile memory devices include read-only-memory (ROM), programmable-read-only memory (PROM), erasable-programmable-read-only memory (EPROM), and electrically-erasable-programmable-read-only-memory (EEPROM) devices. EEPROM devices differ from other non-volatile memory devices in that they can be electrically programmed and erased. Flash EEPROM devices are similar to EEPROM devices in that memory cells can be programmed and erased electrically. However, flash EEPROM devices enable the erasing of all memory cells in the device using a single electrical current pulse.
Product development efforts in EEPROM device technology have focused on increasing the programming speed, lowering programming and reading voltages, increasing data retention time, reducing cell erasure times and reducing cell dimensions. One important charge storage material for EEPROM devices is a charge trapping dielectric, for example, silicon nitride in an oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) structure. One EEPROM device that utilizes a charge trapping dielectric charge storage layer is a silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) type cell. In other such devices, the charge storage is in a charge trapping dielectric layer, but the materials of the various layers may vary from those used in SONOS devices. That is, the silicon, the oxide and/or the nitride of the respective layers may be replaced with another material. For example, silicon may be replaced by germanium or silicon-germanium, oxide and/or nitride may be replaced by, e.g., a high-K dielectric material. Such devices, as well as the SONOS device, are generally included within the designation “charge trapping dielectric flash memory” device, as used herein.
In charge trapping dielectric charge storage devices, during programming, electrical charge is transferred from the substrate to the charge trapping dielectric charge storage layer in the device, e.g., the nitride layer in a SONOS device. Voltages are applied to the gate and drain creating vertical and lateral electric fields, which accelerate the electrons along the length of the channel. As the electrons move along the channel, some of them gain sufficient energy to jump over the potential barrier of the bottom oxide layer and become trapped in the charge trapping dielectric layer. This jump is known as hot carrier injection (HCl), the hot carriers being electrons. Electrons are trapped near the drain region because the electric fields are the strongest near the drain. Reversing the potentials applied to the source and drain will cause electrons to travel along the channel in the opposite direction and be injected into the charge trapping dielectric layer near the source region. Because the charge trapping dielectric material is not electrically conductive, the charge introduced into the charge trapping dielectric layer tends to remain localized. Accordingly, depending upon the application of voltage potentials, electrical charge can be stored in discrete regions within a single continuous charge trapping dielectric charge storage layer.
Non-volatile memory designers have taken advantage of the localized nature of electron storage within a charge trapping dielectric layer and have designed memory circuits that utilize two or more regions of stored charge within the charge storage layer. This type of non-volatile memory device is known as a dual-bit or multi-bit EEPROM. A dual-bit EEPROM is available under the trademark MIRRORBIT™ from Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif. The MIRRORBIT™ dual-bit EEPROM is capable of storing twice as much information as a conventional EEPROM in a memory array of equal size. A left bit and a right bit are stored in physically different areas of the silicon nitride layer, in left and right regions of each memory cell, respectively. The above-described programming methods are used to enable the two bits to be programmed and read simultaneously. Each of the two bits of the memory cell can be individually erased by applying suitable erase voltages to the gate and to either the source or drain regions. The multi-bit memory cells recently have been developed, in which more than two bits can be stored in physically separate regions of a single charge storage layer of the flash EEPROM memory cell. As used herein, the term “multi-bit” refers to both dual-bit and higher-bit memory cells, unless otherwise specifically stated.
While the recent advances in EEPROM technology have enabled memory designers to double the memory capacity of EEPROM arrays using dual-bit data storage, numerous challenges exist in the fabrication of material layers within these devices.
In particular, the bottom oxide layer of the ONO structure must be carefully fabricated so that it is resistant to hot carrier stress and charge trapping. When the bottom oxide layer is formed, silicon-hydrogen bonds and/or dangling silicon bonds may exist at the interface between the substrate, e.g., the Si wafer, and the bottom oxide layer of the ONO structure, e.g., a SiO2 or other oxide-containing dielectric material, such as a high-K dielectric material, layer. The energy produced by HCl stress may be sufficient to break the silicon-hydrogen bonds, thereby causing device degradation (e.g. V+shift, drain current reduction, etc.). The dangling silicon bonds thus produced, and any such bonds previously existing, create charge trapping sites in the bottom oxide layer near or adjacent to the substrate/oxide interface. When such voltages are used, channel carriers can be sufficiently energetic to enter an insulating layer and degrade device behavior. For example, in silicon-based P-channel MOSFETs, channel strength can be reduced by trapped energetic holes in the oxide which lead to a positive oxide charge near the drain. On the other hand, in N-channel MOSFETs, gate-to-drain shorts may be caused by electrons entering the oxide and creating interface traps and oxide wear-out. Accordingly, advances in ONO fabrication technology are needed to eliminate or remove hydrogen bonding between the Si wafer and ONO structures used, for example, in charge trapping dielectric charge storage devices, such as the MIRRORBIT™ EEPROM device.